An Egyptian editor, journalist, novelist and short story writer. Born in 1945, he began writing at a young age, publishing his first short story at the age of 14. Since becoming a journalist in 1969, el-Ghitani has continued to write historical fiction and has maintained an active pen on current cultural and political topics. Ghitany has worked as editor-in-chief of Al Akhbar, and Akhbar Al-Adab, one of Egypt's primary literary magazines,since 1993.  He has won several prizes, including the State Merit Novel Award (1980), Knight of French Legion of Honour French Award for translated literature "Laure Bataillon" for his giant work Kitâb al-Tagalliyyât or Book of Illuminations, in 2005. In 2009, he was awarded the Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Rinn,Dafater Al-Tadween (Ring, Notebooks). Many of his works were translated into French, Swedish, English, Dutch, German, and Italian.